MIDDLETOWN — The sweepstakes cafes that popped up in Orange County last year and lured in gamblers with casino-style computer games have started to shut down.

Last week, workers cleaned out the storefront in the strip mall on Dolson Avenue that formerly housed Top Catz.

In the city of Newburgh, both Digital Gamer on Broadway and the sweepstakes cafe on Lake Street are shuttered.

Rows of computer terminals have been removed from the shops. Digital Gamer's floor-to-ceiling windows have been stripped of the huge signs depicting poker chips and gold coins.

New York state made operating a sweepstakes cafe a felony last year in a provision of the Upstate New York Gaming Economic Development Act, but said local municipalities are responsible for enforcing the new law.

Middletown Police cracked down on Top Catz. Mayor Joe DeStefano said Det. Sgt. Mark Doty went to the business in January and told workers that if they opened up again, they would be arrested. The shop has been closed since then.

DeStefano added that police have spot-checked the cafe to make sure it hasn't continued offering computerized slots and poker. Officers haven't seen anything.

"They're done," DeStefano said.

Steve Hunter, the code compliance supervisor for the City of Newburgh, said he suspected that Digital Gamer closed because it wasn't earning enough money. No one was inside the cafe the several times he drove by, he said.

He didn't know why — or even if — the city's other cafe on Lake Street had closed.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation contacted him in January with information on the cafes, and he forwarded it to city police.

The two cafes in the City of Newburgh were able to open without being noticed by city officials or receiving any municipal approvals. He plans to change city codes to make sure that can't happen again.

"We need to address it somewhere," he said. "I don't want to get caught flat-footed again."

Two cafes remained open as of last week, one in the Town of Wallkill and one in New Windsor. The owner of the Lucky Sweepstake Cafe 777 on Route 211 in the Town of Wallkill co-owns the Happy Internet Cafe on Route 32 in New Windsor.

The Governor's Office and the state Gaming Commission had no information on why the businesses are still operating, and workers at the sites declined to comment.

On Wednesday, only one older man was playing a game at Lucky Sweepstake Cafe 777.

A sign reading "NO CHANCE" had been taped to the monitor where customers buy in to the game. The sign stated that the "sweepstakes promotion" has no element of chance.

The computer games at the business now comply with New York state law, according to a representative of the Lucky Sweepstake Cafe 777 who declined to give his full name.

He said that customers now know how much they are going to win before they even play.

"It takes away the fun," he said. "It does definitely kind of make a boring thing."